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trying to balance the small films with the big
films.
"To continue showing movies like Six String
Samurai, Happiness and Pecker, we have to bal
ance it out with movies like The Waterboy," Banks
explains. "Yes, we want to show indie films on
campus, but there are 30,000 students on this
campus and a good portion of them want to see
an Adam Sandler movie."
Di Ramio: "When I started in Cinematic Arts
four years ago, it was almost like a paradise. We
just had the most wonderful and obscure movies
and there was no talk about money or anything
like that. Now, we feel the pressures of finances."
Last semester, the Tate's biggest money-makers
were The Wedding Singer and There's Something
About Mary — a fact that inevitably influenced
this semester's line-up.
If the Tate continues to lose money. Di Ramio
says, they might have to cut
screenings to weekends only.
There is some good news:
The Georgia Museum of Art's
Michael Chiodo says the campus
museum recently purchased and
installed a new 35 mm projector
for its auditorium. This allows its
booking committee (comprised
mostly of professors with highly
eclectic tastes) a much wider
selection of films for considera
tion. They plan to add a surround-
sound system and completely reno
vate the theater by late June.
"We see ourselves sort of
picking up the slack," explains
Chiodo. "We'll be showing some
independent films that never ever,
made it to Atlanta."
Kyle Pilgrim of the Georgia
Theatre on Lumpkin Street plans to
continue experimenting with recent
independent releases that skip Athens
on the first-run. Films like Happiness,
The Opposite Of Sex and Orgazmo,
never hit the multiplexes in Athens,
but drew impressive crowds at The
Georgia Theatre. The large venue relies
more on beer sales than box office
sales, so it's unlikely to see something
too weird on the marquee. However,
many moviegoers probably never
thought of this venue taking many
chances beyond the occasional Cheech
and Chong or Bruce Willis flick.
"We've been having good luck with these inde
pendent movie nights (Mondays and Tuesdays),"
says Pilgrim. "I really want to continue doing
them, if just for the good of my own soul. We're
trying it out and I hope people will support it"
p 'Mard Lesemann
SLE BAD CINEMA
Georgia Museum of Art and even The Georgia
Theatre to see films like Bottle Rocket, The Seventh
Seal and Happiness. However, these traditional
"alternative screens" are undergoing some notable
changes of their own.
Over the past year, The Tate Center Theater —
traditionally one of Athens' best venues for inde
pendent, foreign and classic film — has come
under fir* from moviegoers and local writers
(myself included) for padding their schedule with
more and more mainstream movies and fewer for
eign films. This semester's line-up includes several
hits from ‘98, such as The Waterboy, Pleasantville.
Enemy Of The State and A Bug's Life — all of
which were scheduled for entire weekends. The
Sunday foreign film series has been abbreviated to
every-other-Sunday. and the Midnight Movie slots
have been mostly reserved for
big-sellers like
The Blues Brothers and Monty Python classics.
According to Willie Banks of UGA's Cinematic
Arts division and Joslyn Di Ramio of University
Union's 10-member Board of Governors (which has
final say over Tate Theater schedules), the reason
for the shift is mostly financial. The theater often
can't cover its expenditures from most of its box
office sales, so to stay afloat, its leadership is
As Athens' film scene changes,
fans of smart movies may be losing out
Despite Athens' statewide reputation for art
friendliness, this town has been rough on local
moviegoers looking for thoughtful entertainment
recently.
By-the-numbers blockbusters have been
crowding the screens: last week, big movies like
You've Got Mail and The Faculty were showing at
three local theaters each (Beechwood, Georgia
Square Mall and the Commerce Drive-In), while
smaller gems like Life Is Beautiful, A Simple Plan,
Rush more. The General and Hillary & Jackie.
though already released nationally, had yet to
arrive in town.
Why do so many mainstream blockbusters
dominate the Tate Center Theater's schedule these
days? Since when do Beechwood and Georgia
Square Mall double-book movies? And is anyone
picking up the slack?
Players on the local film scene say the shaky
status of local cinema is actually the result of sev
eral simultaneous adjustment periods. Carmike
Cinemas, the Columbus, Ga., company that owns
and books the nine-screen Mall theaters, will open
its new facility, the Carmike 12, on the corner of
Lexington and Barnett Shoals roads in early
March Local Carmike employees who wished to
remain unidentified dispelled the notion that the
company might shut down its operations at the
Mall this year: Carmike has a lease with the Mall
that extends past 2000, they say. and is unlikely
to let the space go to a competing movie com
pany. Once The Carmike 12 is up and running,
there may eventually be a change in format at the
Mall, such as designating one cinema as a dollar
movie theater and the other as an art house the
ater.
Beechwood Cinemas is facing some adjust
ments of its own. Several new theaters with the
popular "stadium seating" and an additional con
cession stand were added just before the holidays.
'We're renovating the entire cinema," says David
Khan, Beechwood general manager. "Well be at
100 percent by the first of March with a total of
11 screens." Each theater will feature stadium
seating and a newly-installed sound system.
The current expansions in these local multiplex
cinemas have prompted several movie companies
and their distributors to send representatives to
Athens to re-evaluate the market. Management at
both Beechwood and Georgia Square Mall
acknowledge a change in policy that allows a new
release, like You've Got Mail, to show at both cin
emas. Until recently, Carmike and the Atlanta-
based Georgia Theatre Company (which books
Beechwood) decided what new release went where
in Athens, and never booked the same movie in
both multiplexes.
When I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
opened this fall, the distributors took a chance
and double-booked it at the Mall and Beechwood.
This "test marketing" approach apparently
convinced movie companies that the
Athens market can support multiple
bookings. It's a new policy that will
likely continue through the year.
Does this mean that much antici
pated new releases like Life Is Beautiful
and Rushmore face a tougher battle for
screen space? Yes and no. There are
now more first-run screens in town, but
an upcoming giant like the Star Wars
him may take up five screens at once
at a given venue. When a mega-block-
buster isn't taking up space, however,
the extra screens may actually fill up
with smaller, independent releases.
"If there are only four movies
made available ty the movie compa
nies on a particular weekend and a
theater has 12 or 15 screens, they've
got to play something," Khan says.
"It also depends on how many prints
of a him are available. Sometimes,
there might not be enough to go
around. That's the problem we've
had with requesting Life Is
Beautiful we've had to wait for
weeks for an availability date. If
the print's not available, we can't
play it. We request all sorts of
movies, but ultimately it's up to
our suppliers."
Kudzu Film Festival director
Todd Martin blames the out of -
town theater companies for the
recent glut of first-run blockbusters and lack of
adventurous booking: "The theater companies are
notoriously conservative about booking," he says.
"Nobody's really taking any chances, other than
certain safe independent releases. They'll tell you
that there's no market for it."
But tnere is a market for good cinema in
Athens. While masses flock to see Stepmom and
Varsity Blues, many others visit the Tate, the
PIGSKIN PICKS
With Super Bowl season
upon us. this week's theme
is movies about football
Also, there's a new movie
out called Varsity Blues, a
drama that offers a rare
glimpse into the high school
gridiron experience, as well
as many valuable life-
lessons (It 's also rumored to
feature a brief appearance
from former 40 Watt
bouncer Jon Hyrns.)
Anyway, if you’re serious
about your football movies,
start with Knute Kockne All
American, then move on to
these gems:
BRIAN'S SONG (1970).
Here's one to remind us of
the tender side of football In
this classic docudrama tear-
jerker. James Caan stars as
terminally-ill Chicago Bear
Brian Piccolo. His buddy,
star running back Gale
Sayers, befriends him
through the crisis and learns
what's really important.
Warning: This movie would
have even Vince Eombardi
weeping uncontrollably.
THE LONGEST YARD
(1974) They don’t make
nasty. hard-lxiiled comedies
like this anymore Burt
Reynolds plays Paul Crewe,
a former star (|uarterback
who winds up on a Florida
chain gang. The warden
(F'ddie Albert) has a semi-
pro team made up of his
prison guards; he cnallenges
Crewe to put together a
team among the inmates (or
some healthy competition.
With its story of underdog
triumph and its extremely
low-brow humor, this is best
appreciated by viewers
who’ve ever had a probation
or parole officer.
SEMI-TOUGH (1977). This
time. Purt stars as a cocky.
wise-ass football celebrity.
Even though it was made
three years after The Longest
Yard, Reynolds, amazingly,
has a fuller head of hair. It's
supposed to be a romance,
with Burt and teammate Kris
Kristofferson both after the
team owner's daughter
(brassy Jill Clayburgh), but
it’s just plotless schmaltz
broken up with some highly
offensive humor.
NORTH DALLAS FORTY
(1979). This is a
respectable, if not riv
eting. serious comedy
about a pro football
player’s (Nick Nolte)
growing skepticism
about the sport and
the business The
players, a mix of
born-again Christians
and substance
abusers, are out of
Animal House. The
owners and coaches
treat the players like
sides of beef, con
stantly injecting them
with pain-killers.
THE LAST BOY SCOUT
(1991). Bruce Willis, as the
Patch Adams of private
detectives, and Damon
Wayans, as a fallen pro foot
ball star, try to stop a sen
ator’s assassination at a
football game. The movie
wallows in action movie
cliche to the point where it’s
no more than a series of
monosyllabic, curse-laden
speeches mixed with slow-
rnotion gunfire and explo-
sicrs. One thumb up,
though I'm not sure if this
qualifies as a "football”
movie Nor am I sure
about...
BLACK SUNDAY (1977).
...though this one is a good
terrorist thriller set during a
Super Bowl game. Two
people (one's politically-
motivated on behalf of a pro-
Palestinian group while the
other’s just plain socio-
pathic) plan to explode a
blimp full of nails in the foot
ball stadium. Hey. if you
gotta blow up 50,000 inno
cent people, it might as well
be football fans.
m FLAGPOLE JANUARY 20, 1999